Almost 1 in 3 pilots in Pakistan have fake licenses, aviation minister says

Addressing Pakistan’s National Assembly, Ghulam Sarwar Khan said 262 pilots in the country ‘did not take the exam themselves’ and had paid someone else to sit it on their behalf. Pakistan has 860 active pilots serving its domestic airlines — including the country’s Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flagship — as well as a number of foreign carriers, Khan said. PIA has grounded all its pilots who hold fake licenses, effective immediately.

The results of the investigation were announced Wednesday as part of a preliminary report into a plane crash that killed 97 people in the southern city of Karachi on May 22. The PIA plane crashed after taking off from Lahore, killing all but two of the passengers and crew on board.

Source: cnn.com